Prior to House floor consideration, a rule drafted by the House Rules Committee-which is, in essence, an arm of the majority party leadership-must be adopted to set parameters on debate. On this vote, Republican Leaders sought passage of the rules for debate on the 2004 Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) appropriations bill. The VA-HUD appropriations bill also funds NASA, the EPA, and other federal programs and independent agencies. Progressives voted against the rule based on their opposition to the underlying bill. Despite its overall price tag of $122.7 billion, Progressives pointed out that the money included in the bill for veterans was $2 billion less than the amount set by Congress in its 2004 budget resolution (a budget resolution is legislation which sets forth congressional spending priorities for the upcoming Congress). In their view, veterans' programs should receive the full amount of funding which Congress had already approved as necessary. In fact, the perceived lack of funding in the bill for veterans prompted a confrontation between Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Smith (R-NJ) and the Republican Leadership prior to the bill's consideration on the House floor; Republican leaders even threatened to revoke Smith's Chairmanship if he failed to support the bill in accord with the Republican leadership. In the end, Republican leaders where able to hold their caucus together and the rule was adopted 229-196.